Gibeah

Photo Comments

This is a view from Nebi Samwil looking east across the Central Benjamin Plateau.  The oval in the center of the image is Tell el-Ful, that has been identified as biblical Gibeah (early Gibeah of Benjamin, and at a later period Gibeah of Saul).

This picture was taken in the early 1970s before there was much construction in the area.  On the top of the tell is the unfinished palace of King Husein that was abandoned after the 1967 war.  Now the whole area is filled with "neighborhoods" of northern Jerusalem—according to borders defined by Israel.

Gibeah (in/of Benjamin)_ – Town allotted to the tribe of Benjamin (Josh 18:28). The wicked men of Gibeah abused the Levite’s concubine and in turn, the city was destroyed as a punishment (Judges 19 and 20); the incident is referred to in Hosea 9:9; 10:9, 10. – T. el-Ful (172136), 3 mi. N of Jerusalem (the site was later called “Gibeah [of Saul]”).  – Two or three hundred years later Jonathan launched an attack on the Philistines from “Gibeah in Benjamin” (1 Sam 13:2, 15; 14:16) which was then located 3 mi. to the NE of the old site. – Jeba (175140). Also mentioned in 2 Sam 23:29; 1 Chron 11:31; Isa 10:29; Hosea 5:8.

From the Gazetteer on p. 284 of my Atlas. 

Rasmussen, Carl G. Zondervan Atlas of the Bible — Revised Edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.